We will take the time to comment on the events of 2011 in our January, 2012 editorials. But let us take time to review 2011.

We saw extreme weather that was record breaking. We had the most tornadoes ever recorded in one year here is the US. The deadliest tornado ever hit Joplin, MO taking 321 lives and costing $9 billion.

We had 14 such disasters that cost over $1 billion. That, too, was record breaking. We had the worst wildfires on record. We experienced the worst drought since the dust bowl days, and record heat. We had severe flooding in the Mississippi Valley, and East Coast storms that flooded areas from Vermont to Georgia.

Globally we saw the horrors of the tsunami that hit Japan. It was triggered by the fifth most powerful earthquake ever recorded, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale. It caused a 130-foot high tsunami.

We saw the death of some notorious world figures such as Osama bin Laden of al-Qaeda, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and Kim Jong II of North Korea.

We saw Standard & Poor downgrade the US economy from a AAA rating to a AA+ rating, which is still three notches higher than China.

With the downturn in the US economy we saw people take to the streets in major cities across America, most notably the occupying of Wall Street.

We ended the year with a very controversial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), or Senate Bill 1867. There are many concerns over this legislation, which includes the violation of our constitutional rights to a fair and open trial. Senator Diane Feinstein sponsored The Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011 to erase certain ambiguities. We will need to stay tuned to see how all this plays out. But in the end, we know that we will lose our religious rights.

As we look ahead to 2012, we should watch for the steady trend of events that will lead to a National Sunday Law. We should keep our eye on the events happening with the downturn in the European Community and the Euro, and the Vatican’s call for a “supranational authority” to oversee a new economic system.

We should take notice of events surrounding Iran and its nuclear program. Will Israel and/or the US strike at Iran in 2012?

We should keep tabs on conditions in Iraq after the pullout of American personnel. And what about the Afghanistan question? Many things could happen during this election year.

We realize that we have come to the end of another year; we are one year closer to the close of human probation and the second coming of Christ. Are we that much closer to Christ in our daily walk? That is the most important question of all.

It is one thing to know the news and the steady trend of events that lead to the coming of our Lord, but do we know the Lord Himself? Make 2012 the best year of your Christian experience, and have a plan to become more like Him in thoughts and feelings each and every day.